Residents of Ruga Community, along the Lugbe-Airport Expressway in the Federal Capital Territory, have appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene and stop the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, from carrying out further demolitions in the area.
It was reported that a Special Ministerial Task Team of the FCT Administration had, on Wednesday, demolished illegal settlements in the community, while shanties made from sacks, scrap roofing materials, and planks were destroyed and set ablaze.
Speaking during the demolition exercise, the FCT Mandate Secretary for Security, Adamu Gwary, represented by the Secretary of the FCT Command and Control Unit, Peter Olumuji, explained that the settlements were built on people’s plots of land and obstructed a rail corridor, adding that their occupation could pose a threat to residents using the Abuja Metro Line.
However, the counsel for the residents and human rights lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, who spoke on behalf of the residents on Friday, disclosed that the demolition exercise would affect over 15,000 residents in the area, adding that there was no justification for the ongoing demolitions.
He also alleged that a resident had been shot in the foot during the demolition exercise.
“The reason why we are here is because of the ongoing massive demolitions in the FCT by the Honourable Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike. The reason why we have come to this particular location, there are four different locations, affecting more than 15,000 residents of the FCT in this location alone.
“We were briefed just yesterday by all the affected residents that we should take up their matter in court on their behalf. So, we have come not just to sympathise, but to assess the level of damage. But before we do that next week, we are using this medium to appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider the plight of FCT residents who are barely surviving.
“Many of the residents here are people who were driven away from Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and Zamfara because of insecurity and insurgency. They live here, they work in the FCT, they are builders, painters, and shoemakers, and they do so much good work for the community. There is no justification for this demolition. They help the security agencies to detect crime in the FCT. There is no justification for these demolitions. They are unconscionable, too frequent, and we are appealing to Mr. President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to do something,” he said.
Adeyanju also warned against the consequences of demolishing the homes of the poor to reallocate them to the rich, stating, “The only way the ruling elite can sleep is when the poor can sleep.”
Also speaking, social media influencer Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, said the repercussions of the demolition would affect everyone in the FCT.
He called on Wike and Tinubu to stop the demolition, adding that while the minister was attempting to develop Abuja, it wasn’t right to displace the poor in the community.
“The repercussions of something like this will cost us a lot. What would happen after this demolition is terrorism, stealing, snatching of phones, and killing people to collect things from their hands because these people will be desperate. At the end of the day, it is so crazy that the elite are thinking that the poor people are not one of us. The poor people are your brothers and sisters,” he said, among other statements.
Some of the residents held placards that read, “Wike, stop demolishing our house and giving it to your friends,” “Stop demolitions,” and “Wike, the land grabber.”
